It's Finally Over

The best two weeks of my 17 year old life are over. I can't believe it. We had class on our last day, but after that it was "Fun Night." Everyone passed their room checks and we got to do whatever we pleased. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and gaming. I went to the karaoke station and sang along with my fellow Young Global Scholars. It was a blast. I switched off between the karaoke and the game room. These were our last hours together, we were supposed to be going a bit wild.

A few hours before that, we had a graduation ceremony. I heard that last year, the program had many different types of awards. This year they had one. The Director's Award, and it was given to quite a few students, but unfortunately my cohort and I were not one of them. I'm sure we feel extremely accomplished. After all, we toughed through late nights, long lectures, Marshall briefs, and the legendary murder board. During the ceremony I knew that if I could get through these two weeks, then I could get through anything. We took a large group photo of all the scholars and I took a whole bunch with my friends. 

My roommates and I.

My Marshall brief group and I. Our policy leader is on the left.

After our fun night, my roommates and I stayed up and talked for a while, then we went to bed. I woke up at around 8:00 AM. I wandered around, spoke a few words, and said my goodbyes. There was a lot of hugging and waving. I spent 12 hours every day with these people for two weeks. I may not have met all of them, but we all created a unique group environment that would have felt drastically different if one of us went missing. We were like family. It's going to be hard to adjust to my normal life.

Josh and I, along with a few friends, headed out to Starbucks one last time. We ran into Tracey and she told us when to meet and all the logistics. After returning, we all put our stuff into Josh's room. He was the only one who had a single room on the first floor. The four of us headed out with Tracey to go souvenir shopping. I chose a white hoodie, that the ILC would pay for, and I bought my cousin a gray one. Then the four of us headed back to Johnathan Edwards college, where we spent our two weeks, to check out. We said our very last goodbyes and headed out. I never shed a tear while saying my farewells, but I will miss them all tremendously.

The four of us looked around trying to find a restaurant, but they were all closed except for a grill near the Omni Hotel. So we ate a meal there. I ordered the calamari and the chicken pasta. I didn't expect my meal to be so big. Over lunch, we talked about our experience at Yale. We spoke about our personal experiences, adventures, feelings, likes, dislikes, and opinions of the program. They were generally positive with the occasional negative comment, but no summer program is perfect.

After lunch, we took our train back to Providence, Rhode Island. I fell asleep on the ride and when I woke up, we were near the station. We took our bags, walked out, and went to our hotel. I roomed with Josh. We found a very nice restaurant by the mall. The food was delicious! Josh, Eric, and I ordered the lobster and filet, Liam ordered the Kona steak, and Tracey ordered mashed potatoes. For appetizers we had the crab cakes and the shrimp. Everything was wonderful! The steak was very soft and the lobster was delicious. The sauce that it was served with was very rich. The crab cakes were good, but not exceptional enough to remember, as was the shrimp. Liam told the waiters that we had just finished a program at Yale and the one of the waiters had a dessert for us. It was a chocolate cake and a creme brulee. After dinner, the five of us went to watch a movie. We decided on the new Percy Jackson movie. I never read the books, so I thought it was okay, but Josh, Liam, and Eric were not satisfied. I have feeling  that they watched the movie so that they can critique it. 

The crab cakes.

The shrimp.

The best steak I've had during my time at the East Coast.

Our desert that the waiter presented to our surprise.

We walked back to our hotel and headed to our rooms. Josh and I stayed up until 2:00 AM making a video for his friends. This was the day that I can finally sleep in! I was able to sleep until 11:00 AM and then we all met at 12:30 PM to leave for the airport. After two long weeks I get to go back to my hectic family and crazy school life. My time on the East Coast has been great.